Position indicator for cylinder doors



March 23, 1948. MA 2,438,294

POSITION INDICATOR FOR CYLINDER DOORS Filed Dec. 16, 1944 I IN V EN TOR.

ALBERT MATTHEWS Patented Mar. 23,1948

Albert-Matthews, Gincinnati, Ohio, assignor to 7 mile 'ALnierican "Laundry Machinery company,

:Nurwood, Ohio; incorporation of Ohio 'Application'pecember 1,6, 1944',seria1Nd. 568,449

lfilaims'. (o1. ll-116 124) and" cylinder are provided with doors which must be brought into i t rin r i ns n. o d r to r n both f the removal or insertion of .wqrk, and the-drum driving and reversing mechanism usually includes a so-called inching? device, manipulation of which makes itpossible to rot'ate the drum-in one direction or the other, or 'both -to bring the drum door into registering relation with that in ei 1 a i r r The present invention has for its'obiect to provide simple and improved means for visually indicating to the operator when registering rela tion has been accomplished, so -that it is unnec- 'essary for him to openthe tub door to deter mine the actual position of its doonthereby safeguarding him from'an-y danger of accident and simplifying the task. g

Still another object is to provide indicating means of the character described of such form as to enable it readily to he applied either "to-new machines when first built or to old machines already in use in the field. v

Further objects of the invention in part are obvious and in "part will'appear morein detail hereinafter.

In the drawings, which-represent-ene suitable embodiment of the invention,

Figgl is a front elevation 'g.;;2 is an end elevation; from the right-in Fig. 1; and n r Fig. '3 is a detail front elevation on a larger scale, showing the'indlcator andscale. r

The invention may be applied to any treating machine, of drum type, which includes doors on both tub and drum which must be brought into registration by drum rotation. For convenience and in no sense of limitation it has been shown in the drawings as applied to a washing machine for use in the laundry 01' dry cleaning plant.

The machine shown includes an outertub or casing l provided with one or more doors H and within which is mounted a work holding cylinder or drum l2 also provided with doors l3 and on a larger scale,

ns a d n.

. 2 with end gudgeons it which rotate in suitable bearingsin the tubend walls as is usual. The doors H Hmay be either hinged or sliding, but areshown as of 1the'latter for m. When they are in registering relation, or directly opposite each othenbothdoolts may be-opened (chain the cylinder and brain the tuborcasingl to enable the :work to be inserted; or removed; To bring theminto this relation requires specialoperating control of the drum driving j mechanism, for hi h p o t a 'i n lides fe -i c n vice operatable by any' suitable controller, such as j handle 15, "to pause rotation of the drum in on ".d r t iqnr. th t er brs r t r l mentiq saidihaed -gt m e h dmm drivpliing mechanism includingsuch inching device -fornis no part of thepresen-t invention, itrcuuires ,no' description" and has not been illustrated except for theincidental showns Q h n le e ed 9-,

' "110 the projecting endof oneof the cylinder gudgeons, or to apart secured thereto, ;I firmly secure, as by bolt 16, an arm 11 provided with a crank pin hr shaft 18, the outer end of which passes through the eyeof a cle'vis 19 held between two collars ill on the crank pin. Said elevis is fastened, "by lock nuts 21 to the threaded lower end of along rodi z'which passes through a swivel eye 23 marr ed in a bracket 24' supported on the casing. "The'upp'er' end of rod 22 is 'bent laterally and forwardly-to form an indicating pointer 22 which works up and dow nQi-n a vertical slams-in a housing is at one side of which is an indicating mark '21. This m'ark may be inscribed upon a small plate 28 fastened to the housing by a bolt 29" passing through a vertical slot ea or the plate, enabling the'pIat'e-to be adjusted vertically when installing and setting the mechanismalthough this is not essential.

The operation is as follows: 7 when the mechanism isinitiallyinstalled on v a machine, either a new-machine during the course of its construction in the' i-actory; or an old machine already in use the field, the tub pose the-drum or cylinder to view and the inching handle I5 is moved in one direction or the other to rotate the drum, slowly, forwardly or rearwardly, until its door I3 is in exact registration with the door opening in the tub or casing. Then the arm or lever I1 is firmly secured to the cylinder gudgeon M in such position, circumferentially of the cylinder axis, that the projecting pointer 22a at the upper end of rod 22 projects outwardly through the slot 25. This pointer usually is fashioned in such to position on the crank pin and its collars secured in place. is inscribed on the casing opposite to the pointer or, if said mark is on an adjustable plate 28, the

latter is adjusted vertically to bring the mark opposite to the pointer. 1

With the parts so installed and adjusted or set, as the cylinder rotates, the crank arm I! turns around the central axis and operates the rod 22 in the manner of an engine connecting rod. Said rod moves up and down in the swivel eye 23, which itself turns on the swivelaxis,' and the end of the pointer moves through an oval path, indicated by the dotted line 3|. Abouthalf of said path is outside and the other half inside of the housing enclosing the upper end of the rod.

Thus when a washing, drying or other treating operation has been concluded, the operator, without opening the tub door, can stop the machine and then inch the cylinder in one direction or the other while observing the pointer 2211. When he'sees that pointer emerge from the slot and move either'up or down to a position opposite the indicating mark, he knows that the cylinder door has been properly registered with the tub or casing door, enabling him to stop the machine in that position and open both doors for inserting or removing work. Thus, all danger is avoided incident to inching the cylinder while the tub door is opened. e

Of course, in applying the invention to a compartment washer in which the drum is equipped with radial or diametrical partitions dividing the space within it into compartments, requiring two,

three or more doors spaced circumferentially of the cylinder, the indicating means described will be used in multiple as many times as there are doors distributed around thecylinder. In other words, with a diametrical partition forming two compartments, with two doors spaced 180, two sets of indicating devices may be employed, located side by side, with their crank arms disposed at 180 to each otheror on opposite sides ofthe central axis. This will require crank arms of the form employed on multiple cylinder internal combustion engines, but no otherchange, and will provide a separate indicator for each door, enabling either one or the other to be registered with the tub door, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

Other advantages'of' theinvention will be ap- I parent without further description.

What I claim is:

"1. A device for indicating the angular position ofthe rotatable door closed drum of a washing Next, the indicating mark 21 machine including a door closed casing enclosing the drum and a shaft supporting the drum and extending to the outside of the casing, said device comprising a crank adapted for attachment to of the rotatable door closed drum of a washing -machine including a door closed casing enclosing the drum and a shaft supporting the drum and extending to the outside of the casing, said device comprising a crank adapted for attachment to one end of the shaft, a rod pivotally connected at one end to said crank, means for supporting said rod intermediate its ends for both sliding and pivoting motion,.and a housing enclosing the upper free end of the rod and havinga vertical slot, the free end of the rod being provided with a pointer extending through said slot and -arranged to travel in an endlessv elliptical path partly within and partly outside of said housing and by.its position in said path indicating the position of the drum door relative to the casing door. 7 f 3. A device for indicatingv the angular position of the rotatable door closed drum of a washing machine including a door closed casing enclosing the drum and a shaft supporting the drum and extending to theouts'ideof thecasing, said device comprising a crank adaptedfor attachment to one end of the shaft, a rod pivotally connected at one end to said crank, means for supporting said rodintermediate its ends for both sliding and pivoting motion, and a housing enclosing the upper free end of the rod and having a vertical slot and an indicating mark at one side of. aid slot, the free end of said rod being provided with a pointer which travels back and forth along said slot and the end of whichmoves in an endless elliptical path partly within and partly outside of said housing and by its position with reference to said mark indicates theposition of the drum door relative to the casing ,door; 1 I

4. Apparatus of the character described in claim 3, including means whereby said rod pointer and indicating means may be adjusted relatively to each other. V r

r ALBERT.- MATTHEWS.

. REFERENcEsjorrnp,

' .The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date 2,336,163 .Bullard Dec-. 7, 1943 

